FIRE AT IRAN'S NATANZ NUCLEAR FACILITY CAUSED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE,SAYS

SPOKESMAN

A fire at Iran's underground Natanz nuclear facility has caused significant

damage that could slow the development of advanced centrifuges used to

enrich uranium, an Iranian nuclear official said on Sunday.

Iran's top security body said on Friday that the cause of the fire that

broke out on Thursday had been determined but would be announced later. Some

Iranian officials have said it may have been cyber sabotage and one warned

that Tehran would retaliate against any country carrying out such attacks.

On Thursday, an article by Iran's state news agency IRNA addressed what it

called the possibility of sabotage by enemies such as Israel and the United

States, although it stopped short of accusing either directly.

Israel's defence minister said on Sunday it was not "necessarily" behind

every mysterious incident in Iran.

Three Iranian officials who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity on

Friday said they believed the fire was the result of a cyber attack but did

not cite any evidence.

"The incident could slow down the development and production of advanced

centrifuges in the medium term ... Iran will replace the damaged building

with a bigger one that has more advanced equipment," state news agency IRNA

quoted the spokesman for Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, Behrouz

Kamalvandi, as saying. "The incident has caused significant damage but there

were no casualties."

Separately on Sunday, Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards Navy chief said

Tehran had built underground "missile cities" along the Gulf coastline and

warned of a "nightmare for Iran's enemies".

Iranian authorities have said such sites exist in all provinces of Iran but

have unveiled only three bases so far and not disclosed that they have been

built along its coast.

'NOT INTIMIDATED': US NAVY TWEETS SHARP COMEBACK TO CHINA ON 'AIRCRAFT

CARRIER KILLER'

The United States Navy took a jibe at China after a news report claimed that

Beijing has a wide selection of anti-aircraft carrier weapons and the South

China Sea is fully within grasp of the Chinese army. The US Navy said that

it is "not intimidated".

"China has a wide selection of anti-aircraft carrier weapons like DF-21D and

DF-26 "aircraft carrier killer" #missiles. South China Sea is fully within

grasp of the #PLA; any US #aircraftcarrier movement in the region is at the

pleasure of PLA: analysts," a tweet from China's Global Times said.

In response, the US Navy's chief of information tweeted, "And yet, there

they are. Two @USNavy aircraft carriers operating in the international

waters of the South China Sea. #USSNimitz & #USSRonaldReagan are not

intimidated." It tagged the Global Times report and used the hashtag

#AtOurDiscretion.

CHINESE CITY SOUNDS ALERT FOR BUBONIC PLAGUE

A city in northern China on Sunday sounded an alert after a suspected case

of bubonic plague was reported, according to official media here.

Bayannur, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, announced a Level III warning of

plague prevention and control, state-run People's Daily Online reported.

The suspected bubonic plague case was reported on Saturday by a hospital in

Bayannur. The local health authority announced that the warning period will

continue until the end of 2020.

"At present, there is a risk of a human plague epidemic spreading in this

city. The public should improve its self-protection awareness and ability,

and report abnormal health conditions promptly," the local health authority

said.

On July 1, state-run Xinhua news agency said two suspected cases of bubonic

plague reported in Khovd province in western Mongolia had been confirmed by

lab test results.

The confirmed cases are a 27-year-old resident and his 17-year-old brother,

who are being treated at two separate hospitals in their province, it quoted

a health official as saying.

The brothers ate marmot meat, the health official said, warning people not

to eat marmot meat.

A total of 146 people who had contact with them have been isolated and

treated at local hospitals, according to Narangerel.

Bubonic plague is a bacterial disease that is spread by fleas living on wild

rodents such as marmots. It can kill an adult in less than 24 hours if not

treated in time, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The news of bubonic plague came after Chinese researchers issued an early

warning over another potential pandemic caused by an influenza virus in

pigs.

The researchers are concerned that it could mutate further so that it can

spread easily from person to person, and trigger a global outbreak, BBC

reported.

"Controlling the prevailing G4 EA H1N1 viruses in pigs and close monitoring

in human populations, especially workers in the swine industry, should be

urgently implemented," Chinese researchers warned in the paper.

CORONAVIRUS: AUSTRALIA TO CLOSE VICTORIA-NEW SOUTH WALES BORDER

The border between Australia's two most populous states, Victoria and New

South Wales (NSW), is to close after a spike in Covid-19 cases in Melbourne.

The outbreak in Victoria's capital has seen hundreds of cases in the past

two weeks - more than 95% of new Australian infections.

Until now, the two states had maintained open borders even when others had

shut them.

The closure is to begin on Wednesday, Victoria's Premier Daniel Andrews

said.

He said it had followed talks with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and NSW

Premier Gladys Berejiklian, both of whom have previously said border

closures weren't necessary.

"All of us agreed that the best thing to do is to close the border," Mr

Andrews told reporters on Monday.

"This is one of those precautionary measures, it is one of those things that

I think will help us in broader terms contain the spread of the virus."

He acknowledged the border closure would most likely have a significant

economic and social impact.

But it was necessary given "the significant challenges we face in containing

this virus", Mr Andrews said.

Victoria reported 127 new cases on Monday - its highest daily increase since

the pandemic began.

UK CLOTHING UNIT WITH INDIAN WORKERS FACES SLAVERY PROBE

A clothing factory named Jaswal Fashions based in the eastern England city

of Leicester faces a modern slavery investigation after an undercover

reporter alleged sweatshop-like conditions and below minimum wage payments

to its workers, many of them from India.

According to 'The Sunday Times', its undercover reporter found that workers

were being paid as little as 3.50 pounds an hour as against the UK's legal

minimum wage of 8.72 pounds an hour and was also operating last week during

the localised coronavirus lockdown imposed on the city.

UK Home Secretary Priti Patel described the allegations as "truly appalling"

and commended the undercover investigation for its role in "uncovering such

abhorrent practices". "I will not tolerate sick criminals forcing innocent

people into slave labour and a life of exploitation," said Patel. "Let this

be a warning to those who are exploiting people in sweatshops like these for

their own commercial gain. This is just the start. What you are doing is

illegal, it will not be tolerated and we are coming after you," she said.

Last week, the senior Cabinet minister had directed the UK's National Crime

Agency (NCA) to investigate modern slavery allegations in Leicester's

clothing factories after alarm was raised that they were a key source of the

spike in coronavirus infections in the region, which led to England's first

localised Covid-19 lockdown for the city.

"Within the last few days NCA officers, along with Leicestershire police and

other partner agencies, attended a number of business premises in the

Leicester area to assess concerns of modern slavery and human trafficking,"

the NCA said, which is looking into the undercover reports.

The newspaper's undercover reporter spent two days at Jaswal Fashions, a

factory which supplies garments to one of Britain's fastest-growing online

retailer Boohoo.

ROCKET FIRED TOWARD U.S. EMBASSY IN IRAQ INJURES CHILD

The Iraqi military said on Sunday that a rocket aimed at Baghdad's fortified

Green Zone, home of the U.S. Embassy, struck a residential house and injured

a child.

Iraqi officials said the embassy's recently installed C-RAM air defence

system may have attempted to intercept the rocket as the system was

operational late on Saturday. A recent spate of rocket attacks have struck

close to the U.S. Embassy and targeted American troops in Iraqi bases. The

officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

The rocket was launched from the Ali Al-Saleh area of Baghdad and landed

next to a house close to a local TV channel late on Saturday, the military

statement said. A child suffered head injuries and the house was damaged.

Iraqi security forces say they also thwarted another attack in the Umm

al-Azam area aiming to hit Camp Taji, north of Baghdad, a training base used

by U.S.-led coalition forces.

99% COVID-19 CASES 'TOTALLY HARMLESS', SAYS DONALD TRUMP

President Donald Trump has claimed without evidence that 99% of Covid-19

cases in the country were "totally harmless," as the 4th of July weekend to

mark US Independence Day added to worries of further spread of the pandemic.

Many states broke records in new cases. In Texas for instance, 7,890

patients were hospitalised. Florida has reported a new record of 11,445

cases.

Trump once again blamed China for the pandemic and held out hopes of a

vaccine by the end of the year. He held the 4th of July celebrations against

warnings that the virus is spreading through such large gatherings. Deaths

in US were nearing 130,000 on Sunday as cases topped 2.8 million, with more

than 45,000 in the past 24 hours.

"China must be held fully accountable", Trump said, blaming Beijing for

misreporting and misleading the world, while claiming again that the high

number of cases in the US was due to more testing.

"Now we have tested, almost 40 mn people, 99% of which are totally

harmless", he said.

The president went on to hold hopes of a breakthrough in the hunt of a

vaccine, saying, "We'll likely have a therapeutic and/or a vaccine solution

long before the end of the year."

Trump said China must be held fully accountable for its "secrecy, deception

and cover-up" that allowed it to spread the coronavirus all over the world.

Meanwhile, FDA chief refuses to back Trump's vaccine prediction. The head of

the US drugs regulator has cast doubt on President Donald Trump's prediction

that a Covid-19 vaccine will be ready this year.

"I can't predict when a vaccine will be available," US Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) Commissioner, Dr Stephen Hahn, said on Sunday.

Dr Hahn said vaccine development would be "based upon the data and science".